Jadhav, Iyer fifties take India A to final

India A 4 for 208 (Jadhav 93*, Iyer 62, O'Donnell 4-28) beat National Performance Squad 8 for 207 (Harper 72, Hinchliffe 43, Aaron 3-58) by six wickets
Scorecard

Half-centuries from Kedar Jadhav and Shreyas Iyer gave India A a bonus-point win over Australia's National Performance Squad in their Quadrangular A-Team One-Day Series clash on Saturday. By virtue of the win, India became the first team to seal their spot in the final of the tournament, to be played on September 4.

Jadhav's unbeaten 93 and Iyer's 62 helped India A knock off a 208-run target in 38.2 overs with six wickets in hand in Mackay. That was after the bowlers had combined for a collective effort to keep NPS to 207 for 8 in 50 overs.

Iyer and Jadhav were left to reconstruct India A's innings after left-arm medium pacer Tom O'Donnell's early strikes left them 41 for 3 in the 11th over of the chase. The two added 135 for the fourth wicket in 23.1 overs. It took O'Donnell again to separate the duo when he struck at the end of the 34th over, having Iyer caught. But at that point, India A were comfortably placed and needed 32 more from 16 overs. Hardik Pandya joined Jadhav and the two knocked off the remaining runs in 26 balls. Iyer's 62 took 93 balls and contained four fours. Jadhav faced 83 balls for his unbeaten 93 and struck 10 fours.

O'Donnell was the only NPS bowler among the wickets and finished with 4 for 28 in nine overs.

NPS were rocked early when they batted after Varun Aaron struck first ball to dismiss Caleb Jewell for a duck. Matt Renshaw and wicketkeeper Sam Harper then got together for a 76-run second-wicket stand that came in 93 balls. After Renshaw was trapped lbw by Jayant Yadav, Harper added 52 more with captain Matthew Short. Harper's dismissal for 72 - the highest score of the innings - ended the association. Short was caught behind off Aaron for 30 and Clint Hinchliffe lent a solid hand with 43. NPS' lower order, however, made scant contributions, resulting in a weak finish.

Aaron took three wickets, but was expensive and leaked 58 runs in nine overs. Pandya, Axar Patel, Yadav and Iyer took a wicket apiece.

India A are on top of the table with 16 points from five matches. NPS trail them with 10 points from five games. India A will next face Australia A on Tuesday, while NPS face off against South Africa A the following day.